Travel stories and the occasional rantings of an evolving cynic who's simply in search of a little human authenticity. Tales include hitching across the Rockies with an eventual cop-killer, a weekend with a terminally-ill billionaire, meeting my siblings for the first time, trips to Mexico, and scores of random people from Mass.-Slab City-Chiapas who are often even more interesting...for better or worse!

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"The world does not reward honesty and independence, it rewards obedience and service. It’s a world of concentrated power, and those who have power are not going to reward people who question that power."-Chomsky

"The trouble with self-delusion, either in a person or a society, is that reality doesn't care what anybody believes, or what story they put out. Reality doesn't "spin." Reality does not have a self-image problem. Reality does not yield its workings to self-esteem management." -J.H. Kunstler

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."-Dylan

Saturday, June 28, 2008

6/28/08: Olema-Humboldt State Park, CA

It didn't take long to figure out what was going on when we awoke. We got showered after having to complain to the owners about the lack of hot water in the showers... Eric was pissed! $37 and there's no hot water in the morning?!?! I also began getting my clothes cleaned, and while they were drying they eventually offered to let me ride along for the day... to wherever... and camp with them again. I was quite happy of course. I had been in California for 15-days now, and though it was still quite beautiful, I was ready to get to Oregon- which has always been of more curious fascination to me than California.

We loaded up and proceeded to cruise north, stopping periodically at particularly interesting places to take pictures, or just mill around. The landscape was ever- changing. Farm land, cliffs, and the ever- thickening forests. Just amazing.

We stopped for lunch and HOT coffee in Gualala where I called Laina and finally got some good news money- wise. I decided that I'd take advantage of the opportunity to buy some cheaper, thicker socks at the little outdoor store/ gift shop. We were probably there for an hour and a half, just chilling out. I was enjoying this day, and making some real geographic progress.

That's pretty much how the day went from there. Cruising along, stopping now and then to eat or just enjoy the coast. Eric had decided that he wanted to spend two days in the Redwoods of northern California, so he wanted to stop somewhere just short of there, camp, then hit the parks the following day.

Eventually we came to Legget, which was a significant point in that this was where my friend Hwy. 1 ended and rejoined 101. We stopped and I got a self portrait with the sign, and we headed onto 101. The terrain was by now drastically different than earlier in the day. THICK forest land, with larger hills and HUGE trees. We figured this area would be a wonderful place to camp, so so loaded up on beer, hot dogs, and firewood in Garberville then got off 101 to follow a parallel- running road into Humboldt- Redwoods Natl. Park in search of suitable camping.

We found a $20 spot this time, and it was PERFECT. No neighbors, and more importantly NO KIDS! We were essentially isolated from the rest of the camp sites in a depression surrounded by redwoods. We all three LOVED this spot. We set up, built the fire and drank our 18 Budweisers, ate our hot dogs, and talked about philosophy, politics, sociology...the perfect night for me! It was interesting to hear a European perspective about the US, and I was happy that we had both similar and differing views on a lot of things. I love exchanging ideas much more than mentally masturbating with people who wholly agree with me...